by Paul Herbig

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: May 16, 2009

What's the Buzz?

Ernst & Young study showed that for the large majority of consumers, TV advertising is not the big influence in their decision to purchase a car many have presumed it was. What is just as interesting, if not more so, was the fact that the number one influence in car purchase decision making was word of mouth cited by an amazing 71% of respondents.

The more sophisticated technology becomes, the more important the world's oldest communications system becomes. Media fragmentation has lessened the importance of mass media advertising. Meanwhile, the rapid diffusion of the internet has multiplied communications options for many, providing the avenue to quickly spread good (and bad) product notions and experiences on a 24/7 practically interactive instantaneous basis to the world. The majority of people rely more than ever before on friends and family and community for their purchasing decisions on almost every type of good in every imaginable industry. Advertising and editorial are being downplayed primarily due to lack of credibility with the medium. Roper research tracks word of mouth's rise to the early 1990s as a result of growing consumer distrust and increase in self-reliance.

Marketers are well aware of the importance of buzz and are hard at work to influence and control the spread of word-of-mouth opinion. A positive is to identify opinion leaders and expose them to the product and have them spread the word in their natural method of communicating to friends and family. However, a negative force that is gathering steam, is the effort by some marketers to create buzz by manipulation. An interesting variant of this is undercover marketing, here you hire people who pretend to be users or customers as they go around talking up your product and what it did for them.

For example, one leading laundry detergent product paid soccer moms to go to soccer games and converse with as many other soccer moms as possible and while in conversation to plug the product. Or people are paid to order drinks in bars. Or sexy women are paid to go around town driving a product or wearing a particular product and as men gather or women come by to put the plug in for the brand involved. This works, to a point. At the soccer game, the moms would be interested and note the brand's favorable comments. After a while, the more observant moms would note the same mom would be going from woman to woman with the same conversation. An even more observant

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